Signal means for automobiles and the like



A` P. BAMF'ORD April 7 1925.

SIGNAL MEANS FOR AUTOMOBILES AND 'I 'HE LIKE E Sheets-Sheet l Filed May 15, 1922 April 7, '1925, 1,532,221

4 A. P. BAMFORD SIGNAL MEANS FOR AUTOMOBILES AND `THE LIKE Filed May 15, 1922 -2 sheets-sheet 2 les@ Patented Apr. 7, 1925.

ARTHUR Ik BAM'FORD, RVINGTN. NEW JERSEY.

SIGNAL MEANS FOR AUTOMOBILES ANB THE LIKE.

Application fried May 15, 1922.

To all whom t may concern:

Be ity known that I, Ammin P. BAivrronn, a citizen ofi the United States of America, resid-ing at rvington, county of Flssex, State ofy New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful improvements in- Signal Means for Automobiles and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to signal means for automobiles' and the like.

An object of this invention is to provide for means regularly supplied to an automobile, such as the front lamp ory lamps, whereby the course of travel of the vehicle indicated.

A further object of the invention is to provide supplemental indicating means, preferably observable duringk day-light as well as in the dark for indicating the course of the vehicle,

Pursuant to one of the more preferred forms of the invention, my invention coinprises' improved means for mounting one or more of the lamps of an automobile to aftord indication of a turn tothe right or to the left and controlled automatically upon the turning by the operator of the steering wheel in correspondence tov the desired change from the straight-ahead course. The supplemental indicating means comprises preferably a movable indicator mounted on a mud guard of the vehicle or the like to be observable forwardly and rearwardly of the automobile and operated automatically with the lateral shifting of the head lamp or lamps.

Further features and objects of the invention will be more fully understood from the following description and the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of an automobile provided with a pair of vertically pivoted head lamps operable pursuantv to my invention from the steering wheel;

Fig. 2 is front elevation similar to Fig. 1, but showing a modified form of pivotal mounting means for the head lamps;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing in detail the forward portion of an automobile and a head-lamp mounted pursuant to the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 and connected with the steering gear controlling theA front wheels of the automobile and a supplemental indicating means mounted on the front left mud guard;

Fig. 1 is a front elevation,l on an enlarged Serial No. 561,151.

scale, of the indicating means mountedl on the: mud guard; l

Fig. 5y is a vertical central sectional view of Fig. i;

Fig.. 6v is a detail side elevation of a headlamp shownz in Fie. 1 and mounting and operating means;

7 is a detail side elevation of a headlamp shown in Fig. 2, and

Figs. 8 and. 9 are respectively a vertical central sectional view on line 8-8 of Fig. 1, and' rear elevation` of a member connecting the lamp and indicator with the transverse reach rod. of the steering gear.

Referring to Figs. 1 and` 3*', the front headlamps are shown at 1Q, 11 respectively. In this instance, both head lamps 10,. 111 are arranged to be turned to the left to indicate divergence from straight-ahead course to' the left of the steering wheels of the automo bile and both to be turned tothe right to indicate turning of the car to the right upon corresponding turning of the steering wheel. If desired, but one head-lamp may be so operated, and the other head-lamp may be mounted as usual to be stationary.

@ne preferred form of such horizontally' oscillatory mounting of the head-lamps 10, 11 is shown in Fig. 1 and may kcomprise a bracket 12 suitably secured to a mud guard or otherwise iixedly to the automobile; such bracket 12 may have an upwardly extending arm 13 and a downwardly extending arm 14. The left-hand bracket 12 is shown secured to the left-hand front mud guard 15 by means of the bolts 16, 16 and the right hand bracket 12 is sho-wn secured to the.- right.- hand front mud guard 17 byV means of the bolts 18.

Fach casing of the headlamps 10, 11 is provided with an upwardly extending lug 19 and a downwardly extending lug 2O for pivotal connection with the arms 13, 14 respectively of its bracket 12,; to provide for preclusion of audible vibration, each pivot lug 19, 2O is preferably of relatively large diameter serving as a washer portion between the casing to the inner face of its bracket arms 13, 14 and of reduced diameter for its portion extending respectively through an opening 21 in the upper bracket arm 13, and likewise through the opening 22 in the lower bracket arm 141C.v

Each casing of the headflamps 1Q, 11% is further provided with an arin- 23,` seel 6 preferably having a. forked terminal porlOO tion 24 for pivotal connection by means of a pin 25 with the control rod 26 operated by the steering gear of the automobile.

rlhe upper arms 13, 13 of the right-hand. and lett-hand brackets l2 may be connected with one another by means of the brace rod 27.

rlhs control rod 25, see Fig. 6, may be connected in any suitable manner with the steering gear of the automobile and in the drawings l have indicated, se 3, such connection by providing the lett-hand end ot the control rod 25 with the universal joint members 28, 29, the latter' being` pivotaily connected to the verticallyextending red connected at its lower end 8l by means ol the coupling 32 with the reach rod 33 oit' the steering gear of the automobile. rlhe upper end Sil or' the rod 30 is loosely pivotally mounted in the bracket lug 35 secured to the under l'ace ol the lett-hand mud guard 15. AAdjacent the upper end 31 et the rod 30 is connected one end ot the link 36; he other end ot the link 36 is connected to the oscillatory arm 37 pivoted at 2S within the casing 39 ol the supplemental indicator 40.

Preferably the supplemental indicatorf as is shown enlarged in l? 4, comprises an opaque central screen ll on each or 'the trent and rear laces of the easing 89, between which screens is pivotally mounted at d2 the indicator member el?) having a linger, arrow or the like extending beyond 'the respective forward and rearward sereensll. The oscillatory control rod 37 may be pivotally connected to the indicator linger inember at la. The straight-ahead position of the linger member 43 is vertically upward is indicated in lull outline in and the position indicated in dot and dash o1 1 line at ella ot the linger member and extent el displacement from its vertical position corresponds to the ent-ent of turning to the lelt or" the steering wheels ol 'the automobile, and corresponds likewise the extent of shitting ol the reach rod to the right ensuing upon turning the steering wheel to eliieet the indicated extent or lning ol the steering wheels, as indicated n is one iiorm of mounting for the indicating linger member 43, l have illustrated in Fig. 5, the vertically extending bracket l5 tinedly secured at its lower end to the casing 39 by rivets 4:6 or the like.

'lie indicator 43, as shown, may be in thil form oi a lamp connected by suitable wiring with the lighting circuit ol the automobile. Stich lamp may have a bulb olA or like transparent material, which may be colored red, green or like conspicuous color. li desired, the indicato-r 48 may not be sell-illuminating but may be coated with aluminum or like highly reflecting color and control rod 30 with the reach rod, 33 ot the steering gear, such coupling member as indicated in Figs. 8 and 9, may conn* e the circularly recessed ball 5G and t el member 5l, 'forming a universal joint. The axial recess the ball member :EO makes a fairly snug lit with the control arm 3G but provides for movement .longitudinally ol the control arm El() up and down relatively to the ball member 50, incident to d extents ol turning. rlhe ball mei is preferably hollowed at increased resiliency and also as a space lor lubricant, tor the c ing joints between the rod 30 and the ba member 5G and also lor supplying' li. cant between the enter face ot' the ball menber 50 and the socket member 5l thro small leed openings 54:, or the like. .i reach rod 33 is shown secured to the coupling member 32 by means oit the clamp tensions 5.5, 56 connected adjustably wnh one another by means of the set holt o?.

ln Figs. 2 and 7 another n'ioditication ol pivotal mounting of the head lamps is illustrated, wherein the casing 58 ot each head lamp is provided with an upwardly extending pivot lug comprising the relatireli: enlarged washer portion 59 and the reduce?` pivot portion 60. From the lower, portion ol the lamp casina' 58 extends a ine' having a lower reduced pivot portion (il andl i intermediate portion oit rectangulaio-r other polygonal cross section about wl 'ch is :1ecnred the end of the arm 63 harina; an opening at its end 62 of similar cross sei and making a lit therewith. llie end ol" the arm 63 is forked,

Pili

as indica n. for pivotal connection with the control rodL G5 by means of the pivot pin (56. Such an rangement provides for a bracket o' modilied form, constructed to be verti secured to the chassis 68, as is indica Y Fig. 2, and having a curved, upwardlyY er tending' arm 69 provided at its upi'ier ein. with the opening 70 for receptionA ol the pivot pin of the lamp casing 58.

The steering gear illustratediiu the dra n'- ing is an approved type in common use today7 and in addition to the reach rod 83 referred to hereinabove includes the arm operated at its rearward end by the steering wheel shalt and connected at its forward end with the curved lever 71 for directly turning the lett-hand liront wheel 72; and lurther includes an arm 73 connected at one end selUll llU

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cured to the hub oi the lett-hand i'ront wheel Z3 and pivot-ally connected at its tree end to the lett-hand end ot the reach rod 33. rlhe right-hand end of the reach rod 33 is connected in a similar or in any other approved manner to the hub ot the right-hand trontwheel.

However, my arrangement hereinabove described may be operated with any other type of steering gear..

From the above, it will be understood that my invention provides for the indication by means et the head lamp or head lamps when observable or by means ot the direction indicating means n'iounted on the mud guard, oli means flor indicating` the direction and estent of direction of turning ot the liront wheels by means of the steering wheel or equivalent steering manipulating element. Such arrangement provides tor indication to drivers oi2 other ears, pedestrians, traffic oliieers and others whether located to the front of the ear on either' side oi, or to the rear on either side ot the or on either side directly of the car. The utility oit the head lamps in being. turned in direction and extent of turning is ot special value at night thereby serving to indicate by the angle ont' projection of the light to the longitudinal center line oit the vehicle the degree o'' tur* ing of the 'front guiding wheels.

Preferably the clearance between the peripheries of the front and rear screens el and the housing 39 is closed by means of plates 80 of glass, Celluloid or the like.

Also preferably, the rear screen 8l is provided with a silvered or other mirror surface, which may be coneaved Lfor mirrorscope eect, to ai'i'ord rear-vision to the driver or occupants ot the vehicle.

T he invention is also advantageous in that the light ail'orded by the head lamps is projected forwardly ol' the car on the ground to which the car is directly approaching thereby revealing to the driver the condition of the roadway over which the wheels of the car are about to pass.

The invention is also applicable in that the light oi the head lamps when turning the corner is moved in a direction from the eyes of the operator or' any car or other vehicle approaching in the opposite direction.

NlWhereas, l have described my invention by reference to specilic forms thereof it will be understood that many changes and inodiiications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim. l. The combination et the steering gear for a vehicle or the like, oit a lamp carried by said vehicle and means connecting said lamp with said steering gear whereby said lamp is turned laterally from straight-ahead position in direction and extent corresponding extent corresponding` to the direction and Xtent of turning ot the steering gear, and ifor positively returning the lamp from any lateral position to straight-ahead position, said means comprising solely elements oi rigid material and pivotally connected respectively to one another.

The combination with the steering gear oit an automobile or the like, of a lamp serving as a lighting device in the normal use o1PV the automobile, indicating means having a movable dial and observable in daylight, means for mounting said lighting device to be turned laterally from straight-ahead position and means for turning said lighting device and for moving said movable dial in direction and extent corresponding to the direction and extent of turning of the steering gear and tor positively returning the lamp to straight-ahead position, said means comprising solely elements of rigid material and pivotally connected respectively to one another.

VLl-. The combination of an automobile hav- ARTHUR VP. BAMFORD.

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